Blood dripped. It trickled down the walls. It splattered onto the floor. It covered his hands. Green Diamond found he cared little for the sensation, even though he had willingly caused it. The bleeding subject beneath his hand seemed to be similarly displeased. He ignored the expression, instead carefully peeling back part of it's skin with one of his many bloody tools. An organ was revealed and he picked up a thin prod, sliding it into the organic matter with a squelch. More blood spurted unpleasantly.
"Subject C will be expiring soon." He noted clinically. "The body enhancements do have a limit. It's still rather high. A normal organic would have expired already."
Beside him, stone faced and focused, the bloodstones nodded along with his words. In their hands were a multitude of devices. To their side were organs that had been pulled out.
"Implementing extreme scan in three, two, one." Green Diamond said tonelessly as he activated the device.
The being on the vivisection table writhed with pain as the multi-layer scan went through its body. Green ignored it as he watched the energy patterns rippled through the body. He cataloged it all mentally. His eyes could see much, but they ran into limitations with dense organic matter. This new technique would hopefully get something. Enough to justify actually using it on the last living example they had.
Some sort of emotion hit his mind. His organic memories registered it as fear. It didn't quite feel the same way as it did with Gems. It was also totally inappropriate.
"Fear effect again." The diamond noted for the record. "Can you verify?"
"We feel something." One of the Bloodstones answered. "It feels funny in a very unfun way."
"Probably instinctive. Register where the activity is coming from and pull it out after this is finished." They were likely going to only get a few more minutes of this.
Green wasn't being sadistic, as bloody and hellish as it looked. They did not share a language, they did not share a goal, and these creatures were very hostile even captured. Every single previous one had killed themselves once they'd realized they'd been captured and the suicide method had ruined a lot of their bodies. Paralyzing them and doing an intensive scan was the best they could think of.
As if on cue the creature rattled out its last breaths and something started to trigger. Only a quick lunge into the body and a loud squelch stopped the next thing from happening. Green grinned with a bit of triumph as he pulled out a surprisingly small organ and placed it on the platter for storage. The tricky little thing had been hiding until the end. Now they could do a full autopsy.
These creatures were paranoid, dangerous, deadly. They were nothing like the other races they'd encountered as well. They were alien in every sense of the word. He'd dubbed them Shamblers based on their locomotion from recordings. They had a sort of hopping glide that indicated they weren't entirely adapted for land.
Initial evaluations indicated that they were hyper-carnivorous, semi-aquatic, and lacked actual hands. They manipulated things through their tentacles. Almost like squids, but with teeth instead of a solid beak. They were highly intelligent, and also seemed to have something that he'd dubbed psionics based off his old memories. There was a decent chance they could sense other intelligent life, though they could also be seeing something else. Their sensory organs were significantly different than most other species.
They also practiced extensive augmentation. The information from the autopsies indicated that the needle projectiles they sent were from implants. Each specimen could send out several hundred before they needed to regrow them. What was worse was that the needles seemed customizable. Some had neurotoxin, some were specifically meant to fight Gems, some even had a cocktail of drugs that would drive an organic insane. Combined together with how much velocity they were sent with and they were deadly weapons.
All of this made them more than a match for Gems in a straight fight. After the ambush they'd fought viciously against the outpost occupants. The rubies and quartzes involved had very nearly lost. Only the Shungites had made victory a certainty rather than a tossup. Almost fifty percent of the group had been poofed before the Gems had managed to subdue the Shamblers. Neither Yellow or Green had been pleased with that.
What was more pleasing was the rest of the things they'd managed. Capturing the ship would prove very useful. It wasn't the greatest victory. By best guess it was just a shuttle based on the range it had. The computers had also been fried by what looked to be a remote command, but the rest of it was recoverable. The cloaking device in particular was a very spectacular find. They now had a base for what the enemy used. Replicating it would take some time. Finding a way to counter it would be next.
Using postcognition had been inconclusive unfortunately though. The method they had was focused on location. The ship barely counted, and what the Gem involved had been able to pick up had not been informative. Seeing a lot of aliens come in and out of the ship wasn't particularly noteworthy without knowing the language or how to interpret their writing.
"It pains me that this is the best way we have of getting information." Green muttered as he stepped back and let the Bloodstones pick up the rest. They had the most experience in dissecting things.
"Well, good news is he died after we did the stuff." One of the Bloodstones drawled out. "We did get some brain scans too, as little as that helps."
"It does help. That's why it pains me. We might have to do this again if we don't find a better way." Green said back before sighing. "I'll get cleaned up and focus on interpretation. You all focus on the bodies."
Another splat of blood dripped onto the floor and Green grimaced. He had no gag reflex, but he almost wished he had one right now. Getting cleaned up made him feel only marginally better. Then he moved into what he'd recovered.
The particular method he'd used was in essence an extreme form of invasive scanning. It only worked because they had extensive sensors and experience with organic life thanks to his experiments. It was still rather distasteful and inefficient at best. About the only good thing about it was that it gave him extensive information. Mostly useless information, but with some data interpretation they could theoretically 'read' the alien's mind such as it was.
It was fortunate that bubbling prevented time from passing for the bubbled. Bubbling all of the aliens had let them create this technique and then un-bubble them one by one once they'd noticed the suicide tools. Green would have gotten nothing without that. Part of him felt bad at that. He was supposed to be the one to be best at this, and he had gotten so little.
The diamond shook it off and went back to data analysis. The problem he had was that there was a lot of data to sift through. There wasn't some handy picture book that they were illuminating. They had in essence mapped the creature's mind and body extensively. It required extensive analysis to get anything actionable and the best they'd gotten with the animal test subjects was fragmented images or significant smells and the like. A sentient mind had significantly more information to go through.
This was going to take a lot of time. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:EzertTheLizart, theImmortalGuardian, KyleDaScourge and 841 others
Images flashed across the screen. Data analysis and extrapolation turned numbers into things one could see. The alien's senses were not something a Gem had. They saw in distinctly different visual spectrums. They thought it distinctly different ways. That did not matter in the end. Green Diamond didn't need exact details of how the Shambler had thought. He just needed clues. He was getting those clues piece by piece.
An image of another Shambler was put into the analyze pile. One of text, into the maybe useful pile, assuming they could get more examples. A horizon, theoretically useful. Practically there were too many planets out there for it to matter. The information taking from a dying brain flashed by Green Diamonds eyes and he scowled as he continued to sort it.
Eventually he found something significant enough to take note of. An image of a Gem. The core part of a Gem, not the lightform. It was inside an unknown device.
Green Diamond spent more than a little time staring at it and trying to make sense of it and the associated sensory input. The context to the memories was lost unfortunately. The angle was incorrect to derive a purpose from the device. He was lucky that he could get a clear enough image to identify that it was a Gem at all. The fact that they were capturing Gems and placing them in things, and that this scout had seen one was significant. The background emotions associated with the image indicated a bit of awe and greed.
Where they using Gems as power sources? That was theoretically possible, even likely. A Gem's central core was capable of emitting power for centuries if properly managed. They used blank Gems as something similar in special projects. Gems by their very nature stored incredible amounts of power.
Another picture had a Gem core in a different device. This one was a centerpiece of a feast. There were connotations of pleasure in the memory, but again, context was lost. What was being done here? He could not say, nor would he guess without more clues that he could not gather from the data he had at present point.
The diamond shook his head and continued to work through their scans. They needed something more than this. Something that would...
A starchart picture. Crude and meant for education, but it depicted stars and theoretical borders. This was an older memory, at the bounds of what they could get from their current techniques. It was still something they could work off of. Green immediately sent it to Gems who'd be able to find out which stars were referenced. That alone would make the entire process worthwhile. They could now narrow down where they had to search. This was significant considering how vast the galaxy was. It was also fortunate because he'd gotten to the end of the easily interpretable data.
Feeling very satisfied, Green got to his feet and moved away from the computer he'd been using for analysis. That was one problem addressed to the best of his ability. Now he needed to handle the next thing. That was more thorny.
The Shambler's standard weapon used the exact same energy frequency that disrupted Gem's lightforms. That was not a mistake. It was a deliberate action that had likely come from extensive study of Gems. It was also something devilishly hard to deal with. Using armor to defend against it wouldn't work really. The needles had enough penetration power to get through most substances unless they were thick enough to hinder movement. They just had to get deep enough in to disrupt the surface of the lightform and the payload would cause them to poof.
Well, that was simplifying it a bit. Larger Gems and stronger Gems could deal with the disruptive force easier. Green himself couldn't be poofed without something like a city's worth of power. Their standard foot soldier, rubies, would go poof from about two needles if they hit close enough together. There was a reason Shambler launchers threw out a spray of needles. It was also the reason Green had gone with a sword analog. You needed a certain amount of charge so to speak to poof a Gem. Too little and you'd just give them a tingle.
Since armor was out, deflecting the needles seemed like the next best solution. Green Diamond mulled over that before deciding it wasn't the best idea. Depending on the mechanics it didn't seem feasible for a variety of reasons. They'd have to invent something from scratch as well. Theoretically it would work, but he wanted to explore other options first.
Deflecting gave him another idea though. Two actually, one coming from adding armor. What if they didn't care much about the weight? There was something there. Something theoretically useful...
Green Diamond paused as something occurred to him and then weighed the potential action in his mind. After a moment he sent a few messages to get reports on a project done awhile ago. It was still ongoing at least. The Bloodstones were regularly visiting to gain experience. There was nothing wrong going on their end.
The Ogryn had lost of lot of novelty over the years. Examined, observed, and occasionally dissected, they were living as they had been when they were first discovered. Still hunting and gathering. Their population was relatively stable, for a given value of the word. It was also predicted they'd eventually become extinct. A Sapphire had been called in to predict what would happen, and they'd confirmed the prediction. The race as a whole was stable as a hunter gathering race. This was fine, but that particular lifestyle didn't require intelligence or strength. Ogryn would basically turn stupider and become mildly strong ape-like creatures instead of the surprisingly mighty sentient things they were now over time assuming that they did nothing.
From the viewpoint of the diamonds, this was mildly disappointing. The first race they discovered was a dead end that did nothing interesting. It was hardly something to get worked up about, and barely worth paying attention to. Even Green found it most sad than anything else. He wouldn't intervene in it normally. That was how their evolution would go, and there was no reason to change it. Why bother to encourage another competitor in the end?
He had a reason now. It was a selfish reason. It would almost damn the Ogryn. At the same time he could see no reason not to. For a fast solution to a very technical problem they'd work, and who knows, it might actually be useful later as well.
So Green Diamond began to write up a series of orders and called one of his most trusted subordinates. "Aquamarine. I'll need you to go to the Ogryn planet and pick up one hundred males just out of adolescence. Ideally ones that have left their families and are roaming. Bring them to me when you have them."
The Ogryn were going to be changed from something they observed to something they managed. Green's orders were rapid once he made this decision. They'd be taught how to plant and herd. They'd learn to tame their land and be managed by Gems now. It was almost an uplift, but not quite. He wanted a larger and more stable population. One that would use their intelligence and strength some. One that would be ideal for creating an infantry unit. It was not going to be slavery, but the Ogryn would not have a choice in the matter.
Internally the human part of him winced. This was going to be perilously close to something unpleasant. At the same time he was technically saving the race. Would he be thanked or cursed? Were the Ogryn more intelligent he'd assume the latter. As it was, Green figured it would be very easy to make their lives better. All it would take is a few thousand of them risking their lives for another race.
Mentally Green made a note to make it up to them somehow. He had no idea how, but he would. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:theImmortalGuardian, EzertTheLizart, abdullacheeee and 855 others
Yellow had actually not been very happy about his decision to recruit the Ogryn. She understood his reasoning, but she was distinctly displeased about having aliens in her forces. That said, she authorized it, if Green could get it working. There were going to be several hurdles adding the organics to their forces that he'd have to address. The benefits would be enough to make it worth it though. Using Ogryn as supplementary forces was the fastest method they had of evening the odds on the ground. This was especially true once the armor they could carry came into play. Having functionally unlimited strength made it so that the largest limits were the weight the ground could carry and how well the armor could breathe. Those were both easily surmountable technologically. If he worked things out correctly he could get something done within a year by his estimates.
Green Diamond was naturally going to be still looking for ways of dealing with their race's critical weakness, but that was going to take a lot longer. There was a complete lack of research in that area for him to work off. There was a distinct cultural bias against any sort of armor or personal defense for Gems. They were already fairly durable, adding more had just felt superfluous for the race. It was also sort of like trying to figure out how to stop an electric shock from stunning an organic. A Gem's lightform was simply physically weak to a particular frequency. Researching and implementing a solution would take at least a decade, perhaps longer, depending on what roadblocks he had.
That brought them back to the Ogryn. The plan was very simple. They had a race doing nothing but existing. They were going to use some of them for front-line combat. Slapping some heavy armor on them and giving them big melee weapons would create a relatively dangerous force cheaply and quickly. The Gems would have to invest practically nothing in either time or resources. Even using exotic materials to make some very heavy stuff would be negligible cost wise. The only thing Gems considered valuable was Diamond essence after all. They could stuff an Ogryn into a suit that would beggar another race if they wanted to.
Green and his design team weren't going to do that naturally. Near unlimited resources didn't mean they would be foolish about spending what they had. The core design was going to be a relatively simple sort of power armor. It would be heavy, it would have environmental controls, and would also have a few stimulants to help the Ogryn fight and survive. The goal was not to create slave fodder. The goal was to create a walking mountain of metal that could endure anything. Green wasn't going to get into the habit of considering anything sentient expendable.
The weapon was going to be even more simple. A club. A very heavy club. That was it.
Simple yes. Crude? Extremely so. It was just going to be a dense and durable object. The Ogryn were not smart. This was the simplest weapon for them to use. (They'd also get 'rocks' to throw too.) However, there was something to be said for simplicity. A heavy object swung hard enough was still very dangerous, and these clubs would be designed with super-strength in mind. A single swing turn a Klingon to a fine mist for instance, even if they were wearing armor. It would essentially be brute force taken to the ultimate extent. Overwhelming force was a weapon all on its own sometimes.
Of course all of this was pending on having the Ogryn work for them. While they were going to be conscripted, the method of conscription and the rewards could still be adjusted. Green hoped he could make it at least pleasant for them. He was also going to speak with the first batch himself. They were too stupid and alien to really get what that meant, but the other Gems did. Taking a personal hand in this said several things to the rest of his people.
Aquamarine had done good work at least. The hundred Ogryn she'd gathered were male, fit, and unattached. It was not uncommon for these young to roam out in search of food and mates when they reached maturity. As a society they were relatively expendable and they knew that instinctually if not consciously. About half of the ones she'd found would have likely died alone in one fashion or another. That was just how attrition worked in societies like this.
They were all naturally quite confused by their new circumstances. Most of them were mulling about the courtyard with perplexed looks on their faces. A few had already taken swings at one another, blaming each other for being there. When Green stepped onto the field these budding fights stopped and they looked up at him with half fear and half awe.
The diamond had shifted himself to be as large as he could for this. It was the best way to make an impression on other races. There was nothing quite like seeing a massive being moving towards you. The large box he carried along with him almost seemed like an afterthought in his hands.
"Hello." He greeted in their language.
"Who's the big-green un?" One of the Ogryn asked.
"Dunno. He's green tho." Another replied.
"I just said that!"
"But he's green and big!"
"I know!"
"Ahem." Green interrupted with a small grin at the unintentional comedy. "I am Green Diamond."
"What's a diamond?"
"That's him obviously!"
"He's big!"
Green nodded at them all. "Emerald, come in please." He asked to the side.
The Gem walked in with an uncertain look on her face.
"Look, another one!"
"No, that one's different!"
"She's pretty, and shiny!"
"Yes, she is." Green Diamond agreed with a slightly wider grin. Emerald looked rather mortified. "You obey her, and you get food ok?" He asked.
That got the focus of the men. They all looked quite hungry and just shy of rushing him. Ogryn calorie requirements were insane.
"Here's what you'll get if you do what we say." Green opened up the box and carefully handed out what amounted to large bricks. "Obey and get food, get it?"
Another race would have turned their noses up at what they were given. Gems had very little idea of how to cook. These bricks were mostly just condensed and slightly seasoned blocks of organic matter, formulated to feed Ogryns. One of them could be considered a meal. Three a day would keep them going for the day and healthy.
To these Ogryn males it was more food than they'd ever get without scoring a big kill. They'd all just left home and been providing for themselves alone. They were to a man near starvation, lean, and hungry. The bricks were the best things ever to them. It wasn't like Ogryn knew of spices anyway. Just filling their bellies was enough, and they did so with great gusto and no manners. Watching one hundred organics eat this way was slightly off-putting to the gems around them, and the ground was filled with little bits that hadn't gotten in their mouths in short order as well. Ogryn had minimal concept of cleanliness and neatness. Fortunately that wasn't needed in this case.
"Obey the shinies!" The Ogryns said as agreement once they'd all gotten their fill of the tasteless bricks. "Get food!" They shouted. "Obey Shinies!"
Green nodded back and turned to Emerald, while switching to Gem-language. "Rubies are smarter, but you could probably use similar techniques to manage them. Feed them, keep the instructions simple, and remember that they're able to process things, they usually just take time. Facilities are already being constructed.
Teleportation will make it relatively easy to get something properly set."
"Yes my Diamond." Emerald responded before continuing. "Are you sure about this?" She had a faint look of disgust on her face, but seemed willing to do the job at least.
"This is mostly a test run. We'll have a thousand prepared shortly and can then ramp up or down as we need more. Worst case they die and we lose practically nothing." Green Diamond admitted rather callously. "There's potential though, just keep in mind what organics need... Also be sure they bathe regularly."
Gems could still smell, and Ogryns reeked. If they were going to be part of the Gem's forces, there would have to be some forceful instruction in certain matters. Moral for Gems was fairly unshakable, but even Green didn't want to push having them deal with unwashed and disgusting organics regularly.
--
Ogryn Heavy-Infantry - Picture a living tank with a club and throwable cannon-balls. Gem-equipped Ogryn are the equivalent to that. Their intelligence makes them unable to use most advanced weapons and tactics, but they make up for that in raw strength and durability. There's precious little that can stop them aside from weapons better suited for taking out heavy vehicles, and even that won't work unless you hit them dead on. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:theImmortalGuardian, EzertTheLizart, abdullacheeee and 806 others
His name was Oog. Oog was an Ogryn. Oog had lived a very simple life. He woke up, looked for food, and went to sleep. Most boys like Oog did after their mommas threw them out of the family because they were too big. Momma had not been angry. This was just how Ogryn did things. When boys became men they had to go on their own. Oog had been taught all about how to provide for himself. Learning how to track big beasts and throw rocks just the right way was the best, but sometimes how to dig for the good roots was good too. Oog knew how to throw rocks like his poppa. Oog's poppa could hit a big beasty farther than most others could see, and Oog was almost as good!
Oog didn't throw much rocks now. Now he obeyed the shinies. Get up when they wanted him to, take a 'bath,' wear this and that, then smash things with his heavy stick. He still threw rocks, but he had a special shiny rock that always came back now. It was a good rock. His heavy stick was a good stick too. He didn't like the ar-mor, but the shinies said wear it, so he did. It was nice in hot days at least because it made him less hot. That felt good. Oog was happy.
His simple life now consisted of obeying shinies and getting food. It was far better than wondering if he'd find enough to fill his belly. Most of what he did didn't make much sense to him, but that was ok. The shinies sometimes talked funny, but they were careful in telling him what to do. It was nice and clear and simple.
Take now for instance. He was inside something called a space-ship. He didn't know what it was, but he was in it. He had his own big area and he was supposed to smash non-shinies when they told him to. That was easy! He got up in the morning, did his ex-er-cises, took another bath for some reason, and then ate and waited. He didn't even care if he got to smash something. It was a good life. Sometimes the smaller red shinies even played a bit with him. They were nice shinies. They liked being thrown, though he had to be careful and throw them soft.
Then everyone began yelling and shouting and there were flashy lights. Oog knew what this meant! Flashy lights meant bad things! He picked up his nice heavy club from the club holding place, shifted his armor and got himself ready. He had to smash things that came in. Oog knew that.
Something made his room shake. Oog did not like that. It didn't feel good. Then there was a loud crunching noise. He really didn't like that, especially when some of the shinies ran past him towards the crunching noise. There was fire and screaming.
Oog hefted his club. He was supposed to smash non-shinies. The nice shinies looked worried. It looked like something was coming. He was going to smash real good.
(Unbeknownst to him, the armor he was wearing responded to the situation and began to inject a series of chemicals. One calmed him, one would counter most toxins, and one would address any damage he took. The cocktail was essentially a custom made combat stim to make Ogryn more consistent in combat, also theoretically make them live longer if they were critically injured. The Bloodstones had worked hard on making a good chemical combat cocktail that would work just right.)
Something screamed. It made Oog feel a bit funny. Sort of like when he had to hunt a big cat. He shifted his grip, set down the heavy club and picked up his new favorite rock. Then he threw it at the screaming thing.
(The 'rock' was a very dense sphere with a few added features that made it a very deadly throwing weapon. It also returned to the armor shortly after impact. Green had debated adding other features, but figured that it was best to keep it simple. At the speed Ogryn could throw the things it was pretty lethal already, and the return feature was pretty high tech. It was surprisingly difficult making something durable enough to be a reusable missile.)
Oog was proud to say he hit something very ugly. More ugly things came in while the shinies tried to fight them. The ugly things were shooting and screaming and being very mean. So Oog stepped forward and began to use his heavy stick as he'd been taught. Oog was a good Ogryn.
The ugly thing he was aiming for attempted to block it. That was very silly in Oog's opinion. His big and heavy club hurt when he tried that, and he had his fancy armor. Even the shinies were careful when he swung it. The ugly thing screamed as it was squished, which was expected. Another one screamed at him and shot tiny things that went bounce bounce off his armor. Oog got why he had to wear it now!
(More combat stims were injected. Oog' armor had already been hit several hundred times and the needles had gotten through a few places. His mass made it so that the neurotoxin and other chemicals took time to flow through his body. Since his body had already been practically flooded with counters beforehand they were ineffective. About half the needles had been meant for Gems as well. Oog looked like a Gem in his armor after all, it was just a sense of caution or panic that had the Shamblers use all their needle types rather than just the Gem-counters.)
Oog was happy to say he smashed that screamy one too. He felt a bit tingly, but pretty good as he surveyed the battle. Most of the ugly things were dead. There were a lot of shinies parts on the ground though. Oog had to think real hard about what to do there.
Eventually it came to him. Shinies went poof if they got hit hard enough. The little shiny parts were their hiding spots. He had to bring the shiny parts back to his place and put them in the shiny spot so they knew to come out! That was easy.
Oog very carefully picked up the tiny gems. He brushed some of the blood off them before walking back to his place and placing them in the shiny spot. Once he was done he took a seat and began to wait for more things to smash. He was a very good Ogryn! He'd get extra food this time, he was sure of it!
The shinies who hadn't been poofed seemed to agree. They said something about solid performance, and acceptable cost. He didn't get most of it. He did get that they gave him a bit of extra food and let him take off his armor for awhile. That was nice.
What was less nice was the needles and poky bits they did next. They tried to tell him what what they were doing, but he didn't get most of it. He did get that some of the ugly things had put bad poking stuff into him. These were good pokes to make him feel better.
Oog felt pretty good so he wasn't sure that was a needed, until he tried to move and flopped down onto the ground. He then decided that the shinies knew what they were saying. He would just take a nap and let them poke him that way. Best of both worlds!
(The battle of waypoint 373 was often called 'The First Battle' by Gems. It was the first time the Gem forces and Shambler forces actually fought instead of the Shamblers ambushing the Gem forces. Why it happened was a mystery at first. It was a marked departure from their standard tactics of overwhelming ambushes that left little to chance.
Afterwards it was believed to be a doctrine shift. The Gems had managed to identify where some Shambler points of interest were, so the species was feeling threatened. Where before they had felt safe to raid and capture, now they were attempting to dissuade or destroy Gem forces.
It was the first time Ogryn were used as well, as an anti-border unit. They proved relatively useful and unexpected by the Shamblers, inflicting heavy losses in almost all cases they confronted the enemy versus relatively few deaths. This cemented the idea of them being useful, and the project to integrate them as auxiliaries was fully approved and accelerated as much as it could be without damaging the race's future.) Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:theImmortalGuardian, VVartech, EzertTheLizart and 943 others
So, I'll admit that the Ogryn are useful." Yellow sounded very reluctant to say that.
Green chuckled as he tapped the keyboard in front of him. "I was hoping they would be. Considering the armor we've been strapping to them I was certain they'd at least be an entertaining wall."
"We have several quartz demanding they get armor as well now." Yellow almost sounded like she was accusing him of something with her reply.
"That is a relatively easy thing to do, but we'd still have the problem with the shocks. Those needles they use as standard have some surprising penetration. Even the Ogryn armor had a few get through. It'd pop most Gems after a few volleys, but that'd still be an improvement I suppose." Green mused back.
The two Diamonds were doing an informal conference call after their first real battle with the Shamblers. Honestly it had been a near tragedy on their end. Even with all their preparations they still could have easily lost. The enemy was deadly when they weren't playing around, and they combined cloaking and boarding tactics in a rather deadly fashion. As it was they'd gotten a victory at a cost of a few Gems being abducted when the enemy fled. The made it an unpleasant victory, but still a victory.
"We need that solution as soon as possible then. One thing we realized after battle is that they've centered significant parts of their equipment on countering us. That includes the warship armaments. Your newer composites had better performance the our older armor." Yellow Diamond said with mild annoyance.
Green nodded at that and re-winded the footage he was looking at. "That was my hope for that, it's pleasant to be vindicated."
"Well not all of your advancements are explicitly useful. The missiles you designed are powerful, but our standard weapons work just as well. If anything they're better. Cloaking is a severe energy draw, so most Shambler ships have less defenses. The energy shields they use just can't stand up to a full volley." Yellow was quite obviously trying to keep him from getting an ego with that response.
"I suppose that's unsurprising." Green replied as he glared at the monitor to the side.
"And what are you doing? You're usually more verbose." Yellow finally asked.
"Reviewing the performance of that battle again. Without seeing this in person I can't really give the best input, but I'd like to see if there's anything our Gem's missed. It's something to do while the tests for the needle counters are being run."
There was only so much of that Green could take. They had a good hundred or so possible ways of dealing with the weakness they had towards that specific type of shock. None of them needed his direct input after they'd designed the tests. The method was to essentially put the solution on a volunteer Gem, shoot them with a few hundred needles, evaluate. The standard Shambler volley would send out about a dozen per volley. They could unleash that volley about twenty times before they needed to 'reload.' Each needle could penetrate through roughly an inch worth of armor grade metal if it hit the right angle. It was a devilishly effective anti-infantry weapon when used as a payload delivery method. One needle did very little damage, but they weren't supposed to. The needles were meant to get through defenses and deliver whatever was applied to them. That itself was the core problem.
Honestly, it would likely have been dangerous against most organics too. The Ogryn were being drugged to their eyeballs and had mass on their size, so they weren't effected by anything that got past their armor, but anything smaller would die in short order from the poisons they had as what seemed to be a standard layout. Developing a counter was not proving easy. They were attempting to counter what was likely centuries of weapons refinement.
"How is that testing going?" Yellow asked with an intense look on her face.
"Poorly. I'd say roughly twenty to thirty years now, and that's assuming we don't encounter another setback. Energy shields don't shrink well, power armor runs into the problem with joints being weakpoints, more exotic solutions are just in theory. The problem is we need something a Ruby could use. I can make a vehicle immune to their needles right now, but that basically negates our entire doctrine." Green was not happy admitting that.
"And that'd take longer to fix than a technological solution." The military minded diamond observed. "Gem fusions, direct assaults using our abilities, and more. All of that is done by Gems created for it, not devices. We can add a few weapons, but playing around with other things would be a complete change."
"Yes, I wouldn't want to see a bunch of Rubies driving a tank." Green said with a small shudder. He loved all the Gems, but he also knew their limits. The damage involved in that would not be small.
"Well for now it is manageable. With the Ogryn supplementing our forces they can't just focus on anti-gem tactics, and most of our battles in the foreseeable future are going to be in space rather than ground combat. Hurry as best you can." Yellow ended the call.
Green grumbled to himself. He wanted there to be an easy solution, but that was hard. It really reminded him of armor designs in his organic memories. Past a certain point offense had surpassed defense significantly on the infantry level. Sure they had armor, but a good shot would still kill. Gems had been a bit spoilt there. They could normally flat out ignore more conventional arms normally.
"How's the testing going Pearl?" Green asked as he turned away from the computer screen.
"It is running without changes. No notable breakthroughs." Pearl continued with a hint of sass. "Just like the last ten times you asked."
"I suppose I should be glad we can do testing so often. We did thank the Jade responsible for creating the devices that accelerated recovery right?"
"It's scheduled. We've made a ceremony for several noted achievements. You mentioned having something like that in passing." Pearl said and continued. "Yes My Diamond it is also necessary for you to attend and officiate. I know you dislike elaborate ceremonies, but this would be optimum for morale. Our Jades in particular are feeling a bit unappreciated."
Greed Diamond grumbled slightly to himself but didn't argue. He hated standing around making speeches and such. It was still absolutely necessary. Even he knew that acknowledgments and congratulations were important. He just could barely do them. If he didn't have his Pearl helping he'd probably have his Gems thinking that he hated them or something.
More thought on merits and such could wait until the ceremony began. The plans had already been made in that case. The diamond turned back to the battle that had taken place.
It was appallingly simple as a battle. Several Gem ships against their number of Shamblers. The conflict began soon after the Gems dropped out of FLT at the edge of the system to begin scanning it. A few hours later, they picked up stealth signatures closing in on them. Unfortunately, their sensors could only pick up the general direction, so instead of moving towards them the ships began to arrange themselves for a wide area attack.
At this point the Shamblers knew they were detected and threw out what amounted to a combination of jamming and chaff. Missiles were thrown into space and exploded into glittering dust that made any sort of sensing impossible. The Gems fired out brackets of lasers in reply, seeking to hit or corral an invisible opponent. The light shots winged one of the Shambler ships and made it visible for an instant. That was enough to have the rest fired upon it, resulting in a kill.
This was when most of the rest of the Shambler ships impacted violently with the Gem ships. Those ships hit reported boarding actions. Most of them failed due to a variety of factors, including the Ogryn. While this happened, another ship began to harass the un-boarded ships to keep them from aiding their compatriots.
Credit to the Emerald leading the small fleet, she'd included provisions if she was disabled. The boarding ships the Shamblers used had a complex and rather dangerous disabling weapon that they deployed on boarding. It absolutely destroyed the victim ship's internal electronics and Emerald's ship had been the one hit. Her plans for order had her fleet act independently enough to fight off the harassing ship and eventually force it to flee. Most of the losses were on the Shamblers end, but some of the boarders had managed to pull back with Gem captures.
Initial thoughts were that the Shamblers had shown two ships so far. One was a specialized boarding ship. They had captured a few of them and were going over them with a fine-toothed comb. These ships were small with a ramming prow and a sort of discharge weapon that really jammed the internals of a ship. The secondary ship was their harassers, and they had little to go off there aside from the fact they used energy weapons. They'd have to kill or capture one to get more information there.
A tentative analysis said that they used the small ones as semi-suicide attackers to take out higher value targets while the larger ships provided cover. Cloaking made the boarding tactics viable, and the Shambler's extensive body augmentations made it even wanted. It remained to be seen if the tactics would continue in that vein or change as more forces were applied. Past a certain point Green couldn't imagine boarders being very useful.
With a frown Green closed his eyes and thought. What could he contribute to help? It wasn't arrogant to say he was one of the major contributors to the war. Where he directed his time was going to be important going forward.Last edited: Jun 10, 2025 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:theImmortalGuardian, EzertTheLizart, abdullacheeee and 787 others
: I'm unsure about some of this. Feedback would be useful.
----
If there was one thing that Green had very little interest in, it was social events. He had too much work to do to really stand there and talk to a crowd, and honestly he found very little value in it. Non-diamond Gems were often quite brilliant in their own way, but they deferred to Diamonds to an almost slavish degree. It took time to break that particular habit, so Green preferred more personal settings. He had a few Gems he'd managed to get to actually talk with him, and those were treasures.
With all of that said, Gems were very social as a species. They did do gatherings to celebrate things sometimes. They called them parties naturally, and they resembled the formal organic version, sans refreshment. Green and Yellow found these parties rather boring and didn't attend unless there was a reason. White would only attend those she arranged personally for one reason or another. It was probably one of the only things Gems explicitly went out of their way to organize and do without Diamond's practically forcing it to happen.
Green actually throwing one was therefore a rather large upset in Gem society. Even he knew it. He also knew that sometimes it was necessary to do things like this. Even as a ruler slash god he had to manage the morale of his people, and his pearl had rightfully pointed out that he had been neglecting his people some on the social side. He would never consider himself very good about that, but he wanted to at least give an effort.
Perhaps amusingly, he'd had more fun planning the party than actually attending. Most parties had some light music, some very formal, stifling dancing, and a lot of speeches and talking. Gems were very cohesive as a whole, but parties were one of the few ways they could 'conflict' for a given value of it. They tended to love sniping at one another and the gossip alone could last some of the more social Gems years.
This party would have none of that. There'd be a few musical shows, some fireworks, and a lot of artwork. Green wanted things to be at least mildly entertaining to him since he'd be forced to attend the entire time. He'd even included several puzzles, and custom games based off his memories. Chess for instance was rather pointless for the more intellectual Gems, but creating a 3-d variant based off that with pseudo-random variations was amusing. He'd been half tempted to make some video games too, but that would have required a significant amount of development he lacked the time for. Board game analogs with things to prevent a Gem from calculating all the moves were relatively fast and easy though.
All of this would happen after the awards ceremony however. The 'worst' part in his eyes had to go first. It was also the most important part. If it were up to Green, the diamond would have just declared it, and sent them something. That would have lost a lot of the impact, and he rather needed that impact to make this mean something.
So, it was with a heavy heart that he planned for that too. The speech and party would happen on the entertainment planet. It would be in a custom area built specifically to handle a lot of traffic. Massive enough to fill up a small city, it was dominated by a central podium and what could almost be considered a stadium around that podium. There was no organic analog really. It was just a big container designed to allow a lot of Gems to view an area. The amount of attending Gems would be significant, and the amount watching was going to be even larger.
Green Diamond was very thankful he lacked organic processes when the time came. He ascended the podium in the center of the stadium and knew that practically the entire Gem race was watching. As it was his first real public presentation he should have been a bundle of nerves. He still was, but it was controllable. He was also mildly thankful that he could shapeshift and make himself big. The stadium was so large that he probably wouldn't have been visible to the Gems in the high seats otherwise.
He began in a simple, conversational tone, voice magnified by the appropriate devices. "We are gathered here today for a matter both new and old at the same time. It is a matter near and dear to my heart, as the Diamond who has been at the forefront of discovery and change in our glorious nation. It is also a thing I have been neglecting, much to my shame."
The statement got a gasp from the audience. A diamond admitting shame? Unthinkable!
"Yes, yes. Even Diamonds can have shame. We are meant to be the leaders. As you are born for a task, we are born to lead. A leader must sometimes make decisions that they will regret. They will prioritize one thing and neglect another. As much as we strive for perfection, we still find ourselves lacking in some respects. We Diamonds are mighty, awe-inspiring, and brilliant, but also just one facet of the greater whole that is our nation. There will be times when we cannot do things, as regrettable as it is.
In this case I am privileged to be able to cleanse my shame. My neglect in not acknowledging the work of my greatest Gems. I will be doing this by granting an honor to the Gems that have most impressed me. They have made significant discoveries and creations in the name of the Diamond Authority without my direct input. They have advanced our glorious nation on their own! It is an achievement that is worthy of praise, because I am just one Gem, and if we are to be a people worthy of the stars we need more than just, one, Gem. White has commanded that we show everyone the glory and perfection of our people, and I say that every single Gem would have to be an example of something extraordinary!
So, without further ado, we will start with the honors. All the Gems announced have proven themselves worthy of my regard, and the last will be no more important than the first in my eyes. So, we will start with Jade Cut Nine Three, Facet X Two."
The Jade in question was escorted to the stage. Unlike Green she looked faintly nervous and more than a little awed. This was not surprising really. The Gems actually had little precedence for this, and they did not do well with unexpected situations, doubly so when Diamonds were involved.
"Jade, I grant you the titles of Discoverer, Inventor, and Professor. Your full name on your documentation would now be; Jade Cut Nine Three, Facet X Two, Inventor of the Rejuvenator, Discoverer of Gem Restoration Techniques, Professor of Gem Restorations techniques. There are no other Gems with your expertise in the nation. Even I cannot match the breadth of your knowledge in that subject, so will acknowledge you in turn. You have my thanks." Green nodded and handed her a small plaque crafted for this event.
The Jade looked like she was going to pass out, even if that was biologically impossible for Gems. It was mildly amusing.
"Now, I will add onto this. For everyone's sanity, please do not insist that we refer to you by your full title all the time. If you want to impress your fellow Gems feel free, but only once." Green was half joking about this, but made sure to exaggerate his body language to make it seem like he was really just being playful. "Otherwise, you're Professor Jade, or Inventor, or Discoverer. Whichever you prefer. Take your time to decide and enjoy yourself."
With that the overwhelmed Gem was escorted off. Green took a deep internal breath even as he kept himself looking stately and welcoming. There were a good thousand more to go. Gems didn't need biological functions, so he had no excuse to avoid doing this.
Fortunately once he got the initial large group done he could afford to avoid doing a full ceremony again. Otherwise he'd go absolutely insane.
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Gem Merits - Upon doing a deed that has a significant impact on Gem Society, a Gem is awarded what amounts to a title or addition to their name. This can be best considered an analog to medals and other meritorious conduct. Due to the time constraints of the Diamonds, most are awarded in smaller parties by a trusted or superior Gem. These merits are rather rare compared to what would exist in other nations. Despite this, some Gems can have extremely lengthy titles and names due to their age. It's considered polite not to list every one unless being introduced in formal event. (Introductions can get loooong.)
Day of Appreciation - The closest thing Gem society has to a holiday. This is a yearly event that has rewards given out to Gems. Jobs that can wait are delayed, and Gems will often do something non-work related for most of the day while watching awards.Last edited: Jun 10, 2025 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:theImmortalGuardian, EzertTheLizart, abdullacheeee and 809 others
Jade, Inventor Jade, Discoverer Jade, Professor Jade. Which one should she decide was the best? It was a difficult decision. She would of course use her new, full, and extensive titles when visiting that stuffy little logistics Jade that kept delaying her supplies 'pending proper approval', but in less formal settings she'd have to make the decision as to what was more important. Perhaps she could rotate? Her most shining diamond had not been very precise in what he desired there so she had some flexibility. It was a good idea to keep it short in more informal settings as well.
"I see your dedication has finally resulted in something." The voice of one of her peers made Jade look up and then sigh.
Jade Y-Three Nine was a rather irritating Gem unaligned with the current courts. This wasn't particularly unusual, but she was one of the more snippy and gossipy administrators. Nothing actionable, if anything she was actually very good at her job, and was doubly professional. Off her job the Gem was unpleasant at best. She was also one of the most connected unaligned Gems out there. Gems that offended her tended to find themselves in irritated in surprisingly subtle fashions.
"Yes, it turns out that devoting one's life to a particular field has results." Jade answered back with a sweet smile.
"Well, Inventor," Y-Three somehow made the word sound unpleasant. "I hope you enjoy the prestige. Stars know if the next innovation Green makes will change how valuable those new titles of yours are."
Jade sniffed. "I anticipate they will be very valuable now and in the future. I plan to have more added already."
Admittedly that would be a bit difficult. Being the inventor of more things would be easiest. She could perhaps discover something if she branched out some. Or pick up a title from something else.
Explorer was right out though. Jade had no interest in poking her head into one of those space anomalies. She knew how that scout Ruby had gotten that title and she had no interest in following in that one's footsteps at all!
Innovator and Designer might be better. The Peridots had gotten something for redesigning their standard sensors for instance. That seemed easy. As did designer, though stepping on the Morganite's toes seemed like it would make enemies.
"Well, it is your prerogative." Y-three responded slowly. "You are in Green's court after all. It does seem like the place for... New ideas."
"New ideas and innovation are the lifeblood of our nation." Jade responded instantly with a hint of heat and narrowed eyes.
"Of course, says the male Diamond who calls himself imperfect." Y-Three flashed a perfect smile and did a small curtsy. "But I am sorry, I have taken up too much of your time with frivolous talking. You should try the new events." The Gem gestured to one of the puzzle stations.
That one was one of the more physical ones. A teamwork puzzle that involved getting a large block into a slotted hole in the air. It was harder than it sounded because the 'goal' was protected by an elaborate and rather lovely looking rotating sculpture that you weren't supposed to touch. It was a favorite of the more physical Gems, and it looked like several had fused together to try to solve it.
It was also an insult of sorts towards Jade. She fortunately had a parry already ready. "I will. The new Star Capture game was quite intellectually stimulating, and I already have a few invites from the Emeralds."
Y-three paused and narrowed her eyes at that before flouncing off without another word. It wasn't quite a win, but it was close enough for Jade. She very rarely won those little verbal bouts with the very irritating Gem.
Jade grinned to herself and practically bounced towards the game she'd mentioned. Several of Green Diamond's games were already making some minor waves with the others. The physical ones were mostly amusing novelties. The 'board games' though, those were already becoming a favorite of those with a more intellectual bent. Any Gem that used their mind for various tasks found the additional stimulation quite interesting and entertaining. The history was mildly interesting too.
Chess for instance was appallingly simple at the base of it. Thirty-two pieces, ten thousand moves? It showed how limited organics were really. Jade could do an entire game in her head within ten seconds. That was boringly predictable. Adding a few layers and some pseudo-random interference removed the easy predictions and gave it something mildly interesting to play, which turned it from a boring distraction to a stimulating competition.
Star Capture was similarly based off of a game called Go. This one had been changed more. They'd created a special interface for it, with stars in the place of stones, made it 3-d, and added an orbital mechanic. This made it less predictable, and actually quite pretty when played. The game itself didn't resemble Go anymore, but that was considered a bonus rather than a loss. It was already becoming a favorite. There was talk of adding ships and hooking it up to a military simulator as well. That would take a fair bit of time though, and some thought it'd make the game less entertaining. Not that the current game was perfect, but there was a point where complexity detracted from the entertainment instead of added to it.
The current rules already made it pretty complex. Taking a turn required evaluating an extensive list of moves that most couldn't do quickly. This was again a benefit. It was no fun if you sat there and calculated everything. Taking a turn quickly meant you were superior, and it gave the High Class Gems a way to show off. At least in conventional wisdom.
Jade's specialty had been in Gem Restoration. In simple terms, she studied how a Gem's lightform was formed and reformed after damage. It was a very specialized field that required extensive study on how Gems worked. She had a small staff of Bloodstones who helped gather and interpret data for her to extrapolate and interpret. She knew more than most how the the castes thought and processed interpretation.
Rubies were the bare basic battle-made Gems. They were also considered the stupidest of the Gems. (Pebbles were less smart, but would fit 'pet' if one would use organic terms.) They could still actually calculate what a Jade could do, if you gave them time. Jades could do it ten times as fast, but Rubies could do it. They could also play Star Capture. They wouldn't for a variety of reasons, but they could. So the elitism already springing up around the game was mildly amusing to Jade. High Class Gems were showing off like Low Class Gems over an entertainment game.
Not that she'd say that. She had enough of conflict elsewhere. Here she just wanted to play. And play she did.
Her first opponents were a few Emeralds she knew because they were in Green's court like her and had been the ones to invite her. Bombastic, adventurous, and rather unpredictable. They were the risk takers and the explorers. Some had even gotten the new title accompanying that, because of one adventure or another. One, for instance, had spent almost a year in real time and who knew how long subjective time trying to get extremely close to a black hole to get information and scans on it. That one was considered rather insane even by her court's standards.
Other Gems came in later as they switched off. She paid less attention to their names and statuses than the way the played. She could always tell when the Gem she played against was from the Yellow Court. They all had this hard edge to their moves, as if they were always hunting for an opening. They were also a bit more rigid than anyone from Green's court. Not enough to be a problem, but they all had some fairly standard openers and responses that practically broadcast that they'd trained the same way.
White court players were probably the worst of the lot. Very consistent and thorough in playing. Predictable in an almost extreme sense. Jade had played against two fellow Jades from White's court that had done the exact same game play for play. It had led her to basically trounce them all except one. That one had had again played almost the exact same way, but done it with just enough differences to lock her out completely. It would have been almost textbook had Star Capture not been specifically designed to counter just memorizing moves and responses. It was instead impressive in a terrifying way.
Gems who hadn't been aligned with a court were less consistent, and Jade couldn't really categorize them. She did like the Rubies, Topazes, and Quartzes that stubbornly kept playing, even if they lacked the intellectual might of the other Gems. Some actually had enough success that the other Gems acknowledged their places at the games, and Jade could almost see the recruitment offers in the background. Warrior Gems that wanted to think were very rare and could fulfill some more niche jobs.
This was a common thing in parties. Officially all Gems were assigned to a particular station and job, but unofficially there was a lot of wiggle room through transfers and exchanges. Jade had done a bit of it herself, pushing one of her Bloodstones to another department and grabbing a Peridot in exchange. Little things like that helped keep things functioning. No one liked working with an unhappy Gem so it was easier to just move them to a different place where they might fit better. It was a small thing encouraged by the Diamonds on the downlow through their Pearls that no one talked about.
Jade considered this one of the best parties she'd been to in a long while. She'd have to do it again some point. The facilities here weren't going anywhere after all and there'd been a minor note from the Pearls that they would be maintained and free for more gatherings in the future. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:theImmortalGuardian, EzertTheLizart, abdullacheeee and 825 others